Keith Mayer: Reading police arrest murder suspect after finding human remains in northern Berks [update]
May 21—Human remains believed to be those of a taxi driver were found in the Berks countryside, leading to the arrest of a man in the cabbie's killing, Reading police said Saturday.
City Hall issued a notice late Friday that the police department was searching "in the area of Old Church Road in North Heidelberg Township."
The operation was being done in conjunction with the state police and Berks County detectives "to attempt to locate evidence in an on-going investigation."
The remains are believed to be Darlyn De La Rosa-Abreu, who had been missing since Aug. 8. Arrested was Johnny Palaguachi of Reading, police said
City Police Chief Richard Tornielli said that on Friday, Criminal Investigator Ryan Crampsie obtained evidence that led police to the North Heidelberg Township location.
Palaguachi was arrested and charged with homicide, abuse of corpse, tampering with evidence, and theft, police said.
The department thanked all the assisting agencies.
Police had been working the case for months, and made several appeals to the public last year in an effort to find De La Rosa-Abreu.
The Berks County coroner's office said the remains were found Friday.
The coroner's office expects to use dental records to make an identification on the remains.
Arraignment details on Palaguachi were not available.
